Hitchhiker Shrimp

African filter shrimp?
Bamboo shrimp?
If so make sure your water hardness/softness and parameters are spotless

BettaBettas said:

African filter shrimp?
Bamboo shrimp?
If so make sure your water hardness/softness and parameters are spotless

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Well he's done well for 3-4 weeks and already molted yesterday morning so I assume the water is to his liking... I'm just worried I need to feed it specially since it filters and my tank is a pretty clean environment.

I am gonna go with African filter shrimp. You should go back to the pet store and find more hitch hikers. Fine ground flakes and algae wafers in the current in front of it will probably make it happy.

give it a nice big stick (cleaned and cured) to stand on where there is most current in your tank!

Turningdizzy said:

I am gonna go with African filter shrimp. You should go back to the pet store and find more hitch hikers. Fine ground flakes and algae wafers in the current in front of it will probably make it happy.

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Yeah I've never gotten a hitchhiker white this cool before. I don't have flake but I do have algae wafers. There isn't much current in my tank. He likes to hang out at the hole in that driftwood. There is a small amount of current there coming off the filter, but it's disappated by the Anachris in front of it. If I put a water on his hidey hole with him would that be sufficient? I tried dropping one on front before bit the rummies stole it from him.

BettaBettas said:

give it a nice big stick (cleaned and cured) to stand on where there is most current in your tank!

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He's still shy so far. Only just coming all the way out of his driftwood. He would always hide in the entrance until the past day or two.

I Still would suggest putting a stick or large rock infront of the filter output

Vampire shrimp do best with *powdered* foods. You can either buy powdered foods or grind the powder down. Anything larger they may not be able to eat.


Molting in a tank isn't necessarily a a sign that they are doing well. Shrimp can molt a few times within a tank before problems arise due to insufficient or too much minerals in the water column.

Atya gabonensis

Yup, it is a filter feeder so it's a good idea to have an area with decent flow and have particulate food (crushed up flakes are fine). It can grab at food on the substrate if it really has to, but filter feeders really should have somewhere with flow to filter feed microorganisms from the water.
Pretty nice hitchhiker as they are peaceful and are fairly pricey (typically $15-19 in my area).

As far as water parameters for molting, I find that larger shrimp such as this, bamboo shrimp (filter feeder), even Amanos and crawfish are more adaptable.

Thanks for the replies. I suppose I'm gonna try to powder an algae pellet in one of my wife's mortar and pestle (then probably beg her forgiveness) and see if I can get it down to it with a turkey baster next time I see it out filter feeding.

I had a power head creating some extra current in there but it was sucking up neons and spitting them out as diced tetra.

I suppose I'm gonna try to powder an algae pellet in one of my wife's mortar and pestle (then probably beg her forgiveness)

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Good idea, It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

You may need to add a sponge or something to the power head so no one can get sucked up into it...

Zoidburg said:

You may need to add a sponge or something to the power head so no one can get sucked up into it...

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this is a good idea

Zoidburg said:

You may need to add a sponge or something to the power head so no one can get sucked up into it...

Click to expand...

Yeah I've been trying to think of a good way to do this. If I get it sorted out I can aim the power head directly at his little cave, and that would make getting good to him easier.

Filter-Max prefilters come with a bunch of adapters and should fit on almost any powerhead.

Aquarium Pre-filters: Aquarium Technology Inc Filter-Max Pre-Filter

Try this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxfcewQHr6s

.

NickAu said:

Try this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxfcewQHr6s

.

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Good video. I have a sponge from a protein skimmer off of my old reef that I'm not using. I think it will slide over the power head and if I cut it down it won't be too ugly either.

I did get an algae pellet down to him but I don't think it was happy with it. The problem I'm having is that it's too skittish to filter feed with a turkey baster hanging out in it's face.

Just out of curiosity I realize that dumping powdered algae pellets in front of a powerhead pointed at him will be inefficient. 90 percent or more he isn't going to catch. Will that powdered food then be able to be scavenged by my other shrimp or will it be a decaying hazard for water quality?

Non-filter feeder shrimp will have no problem eating powdered wafers. They do eat biofilm after all.

You'll just have to experiment. It's usually easier to place the food "way up stream" from the shrimp, where they would be less scared of an object being in the tank but the food still reaches them. An entire group of filter feeders can be fun to watch!